CommSec Market Close 11 Aug 17

Traders and financial professionals work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ahead of the opening bell, 11 August 2017. Picture: Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFPSource:AFP

THE Australian market looks set to open flat after Wall Street closed positive but European and Asian markets ended sharply down amid rising tension between the US and North Korea and with US inflation data disappointing.

At 0700 AEST on Monday, the share price futures index was down three points, or 0.05 per cent, at 5,638.

In the US, the three major US stocks indices snapped three days of losses, as investors bet on slower US rate rises after disappointing inflation figures, but gains were muted by increasingly aggressive exchanges between the United States and North Korea.

The US July consumer price index (CPI) disappointed for the fifth consecutive month, with its core measure at 0.1 per cent, versus an expected 0.2 per cent, leaving the annual rate at 1.7 per cent, against the expected 1.8 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.07 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.13 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.64 per cent.

Locally, in economic news on Monday, Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor (Financial Markets) Chris Kent is slated to deliver a speech at the Moody’s Analytics Forum in Sydney.

The CoreLogic capital city house prices survey for the week just ended is due out.